Shelton Friends of the Library

What a special evening. I was asked by the president, Jan, of the Friends of the Shelton Library to be their annual meeting guest speaker. "Of course" I said, it would be a honor to help them out at their FIRST annual meeting. Here they are, a spanking brand new Friends group. That's pretty rare in these parts. My beloved Friends group is just about 50 years old. They began about a year ago, organized and registered with the State, and are now awaiting the approval of their tax exempt status from the IRS.

Jan and I met at a FOCL meeting about a year ago and I was quite surprised that she remembered and called me to do this for them.

I was given 20 minutes to talk about what to do ---- ok out there stop laughing. For the record, I only went over by 2 minutes! When we actually ironed out the content of my talk, it was about beging a good Friend of a Library group. So we focused on their mission statment. A good group stays true to their mission. Often a group can go astray, and that will usually spell trouble for the group. I then spoke about being a good volunteer and making the Friends a good place to volunteer. This area is big. You need to plan and train for your volunteers, manage expectations, teach the message of the Friends, and lastl by not least - say thank you at least one hundred times. Lastly I went over some of the activities I've been involved in that fit their mission of volunteering, fund raising, and advocacy for their library.

It was a great night! Best to the Friends of the Shelton Library - hope to hear from your soon!

PS Jan was looking for two volunteers before the meeting began. After my talk, two Friends came forward and volunteered. I'm so happy for them. I'll be keeping an eye out to hear about all there successes!

PSS - Good Luck at your booksale - anyone in the 'valley', their sale begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday! Stop by and get some good reads for the winter months.